Death under a train: when time is more precious than life. "Train of death" from Buchenwald to Dachau Only to the nearest station
Journalist Sergei Sobolev spoke about the death of his wife under the wheels of a train. The author claims that officials who do not build normal crossings at crossings are to blame for the death of people. And statistics show that even where there are bridges, people run across the tracks in front of trains, trying to save time.
Data discrepancy
In the Moscow region, at a railway crossing near the Saltykovskaya station (Gorky direction of the Moscow Railway), 25-year-old Elena Soboleva died under the wheels of a train. Her husband is a journalist and blogger Sergey Sobolev - wrote about this tragedy on his Facebook page, focusing on the problem of the unsafety of railway crossings, even if they are equipped with appropriate signals.
"On January 31, Acting Governor of the Moscow Region Andrey Vorobyov announced that the authorities are allocating additional funds for the construction of civilized underground and overground passages. True, the development of the project alone will take three years. This is about 60 more corpses. It is very easy to find a video clip from 2010 on the Internet. On the footage, some local bureaucrat says that the construction of the interchange will begin in 2012. As you understand, they have not even begun preparatory work, ”writes Sergey.
True, the Moscow Railway (MZhD) does not agree with such figures. They explain that "according to documented statistics, at this stopping point, 4 cases of injury were recorded in 2012, and 2 cases in 2013." "Other data do not correspond to reality and are quoted from unverified sources," the Ministry of Railways notes.
In addition, they claim that the information about the promise of Russian Railways to build an underground or ground-type crossing in this place is not true. Perhaps we are talking about the opinion expressed to the media by one of the leaders of the urban district of Balashikha in 2010, posted on the Internet, the department assumes.
At the same time, they do not deny the need to build pedestrian crossings and car crossings of different levels. On the terms of co-financing, these proposals are promised to be implemented jointly with the governments of Moscow and the Moscow Region.
"Watch out for the train!"
Posters with such appeals can be seen at every station. However, those who travel by trains have probably seen more than once how stowaways recklessly jump from the platforms and run across the tracks just to avoid the turnstiles.
Also often killed are people who cross railway tracks and even run across them in front of an approaching train without looking around. Moreover, the youth in the headphones at the same time still does not hear sound signals or famously plays "hooks".
Fatalities also occur at controlled crossings, as happened with Elena Soboleva. Such cases, as a rule, occur with people who are in a hurry and run across the tracks at a red light, forgetting that the train is not a car. It cannot swerve or brake quickly. Hence the sad statistics, the numbers of which are growing year by year.
So the young woman Elena Soboleva, as the railroad workers say, died because she "crossed the tracks at a forbidding traffic light in front of a nearby train." Such conclusions were reached by employees of the Ministry of Railways after an investigation conducted jointly with the police.
“In order to prevent a collision with a pedestrian, the driver took emergency braking measures, sound signals of increased volume and light signals from a spotlight were given. These data are confirmed by objective control devices installed on the electric train, which record important parameters of the trip,” the press service of the Moscow Railways reports.
True, as those who have had to cross paths in this place more than once write, there are two transitions here. “One is for automobiles and pedestrians, the other (from the other end of the platform) is purely pedestrian. There, the barrage signals turn on long before the train passes. It turns out that the prohibition signals are almost always on, and they simply don’t pay attention to them anymore,” say the locals, “Accordingly, the question is: why are they then installed and set up like that?”
In addition, the interlocutors of Vestey.Ru emphasize that it is at this crossing that the high-speed branch makes a bend. “And this bend, due to the fence, turns into a dead zone: you won’t understand whether the train is going there or not until you stick your head out ... which can immediately demolish you. As happened with Lena ( Soboleva). They collected her head in pieces," eyewitnesses of the tragedy say. "The Russian Railways say that everything is in accordance with GOST. Is 30 people a year a death according to GOST?” local residents are indignant.
Railway workers, for their part, object: “This crossing is equipped with sound and light traffic signaling that warns of the approach of a train. see an approaching train. Visual information has been placed at the crossing with a warning about the danger of violating the rules of being on the railway tracks."
When a hole in the fence replaces the crossing
It is unlikely that anyone will argue that it is better to build overground or underground passages through railway tracks than not to build. But will they solve the issue radically, taking into account the mentality of the majority of Russians, for whom running across the path as soon as possible is more important than their own safety?
If you drive along the Gorky direction from the Kurskaya station towards the region and carefully look around, you will notice: after the high-speed "Sapsan" began to walk here, many sections of the road were blocked with blank fences. However, holes were soon punched in them so that one could not go to the nearest passage - including overground or underground.
So, for example, it happens at the Reutovo station, where there is an underground passage. There, on the right side of the railway, a hole was punched in the fence and even steps were trampled down from the hill, which end exactly at the rails.
A similar picture is at Elektrougli station. There is an elevated passage (bridge), and the paths are fenced on one side with a blank fence, on the other with a grate. But people who are always in a hurry have broken the bars of the lattice and continue to run across the railroad tracks. It's faster than climbing a bridge.
Empathizing with the relatives of people who died under the wheels of trains, the railway workers cite objective statistics. And it shows that even if there are safe underground or overhead passages, they are used by a minimum number of passengers.
The other day it became known that the investigating authorities filed against unidentified officials Russian Railways a criminal case of negligence after the deaths of people at a railway crossing in the Primorsky district of St. Petersburg, which we talked about in detail. Vgudok, in turn, found railroad workers whose identities are well established. People who see the consequences of an emergency, similar to those that regularly occur on Tourist street, with my own eyes - from the train cab. So, the word to the machinists.
“Most people get hit by electric trains. A little less - for trucks: they are painfully scary and loud. Under the passenger - it happens, but not often. Here the explanation is simple: you want to be away from the fast-rushing train. The train is its own, dear. In it, you can hold the doors with your hands, pull the stopcock ... "
"Blow, whistle, brake" - this is from the black humor of the machinists regarding the sequence of actions during a collision. Black humor is a defensive reaction from the realization of the departure of another soul to the other world.
I crawl under the car, pull it over. We need to somehow disperse the formed crowd. I shout from under the car: “What are you looking at, climb in to help!”
The whistle points are specified in the instructions. Somewhere there are special signs. Some machinists do not take their foot off the whistle pedal, some whistle only when necessary. As statistics show, they shoot down people approximately equally.
“The beginning of the 2000s, Detskoye Selo station, morning. I was given the job of assistant driver. The machinist was found to be extremely "whistle". In front of the platform there is a crossing, and there is a transition there. Let's go whistle. There is a girl, very young. Judging by her gait, she categorically does not want to notice the train. Emergency braking. Hit. Stop. While the engineer was reporting to the station attendant about the incident, I rushed off to look at the result. The victim is in three wagons ( 60 meters) from the place where we knocked it down. Girl under the traction engine. I crawl under the car, pull it over. We need to somehow disperse the formed crowd. I shout from under the car: “What are you looking at, climb in to help!”.
The result was achieved, only one young policeman remained - it seems like shoulder straps do not allow retreating. I pull out the body (and what did you think? - from a speed of 80 you can stay alive?) head on myself, face down. At some point, a face flashed - just a child, fifteen years old. I handed it to the policeman, he pulled it, I was going to finish the process, taking the body by the legs. I pull, and the hands open themselves: the legs are cut off to the ankles. Feet remained at the crossing - to catch fear on other pedestrians.
Scary? Very. It can be assumed that after such an incident, the driver will go on a binge for a week or find another way to come to his senses. No matter how. After arriving with this train, we had another one, and only after that we were able to remember. The next day - to work on schedule».
“I can’t look at the dead, I’m afraid they can dream of me later at night.”
“They can’t communicate so calmly with corpses. I had one assistant, Valera. We “kicked” with him a homeless man, crouched on half-shoes. Emergency braking helped the fate of the unfortunate little: he flew down a slope. Working as a machinist, I always walked in such cases with an assistant. Come, we are looking.
I think we’ll walk a little, if we don’t find it, let the police with dogs look for it. The thing is that if a person is alive, he needs to be taken away and an ambulance should be called to the nearest station. And, of course, no one wants to leave a living person who can be helped on the haul. Are looking for. At some point, I almost stepped on our bum. Lying, staring at the sky. Pulse, carotid artery, eyes - well, our man is ready! Nevertheless, given the lack of obvious dismemberment, I decide to ask the assistant to run to the tail cockpit and ask on the broadcast if there are any medical passengers among the passengers. I understand that I'm talking to the void. I turn around and Valera rowing with heels on gravel at the very top of the embankment. I'm screaming from below, where did you lather? “I can’t look at the dead, I’m afraid they can dream of me later at night.” Valera worked for us for a short time, and I began to memorize the number of the support of the contact network, near which the misfortune occurred.
Another fearful helper. “I already worked as an engineer, and on weekends I came to drive electric trains. Everything is the same as in the previous case: a small curve, the client sits on half-shoes. Emergency braking, as you understand, does not give an instantaneous effect, and should not ... Blow. The assistant begged: "Can you go alone, I'm afraid of them?". For God's sake. I leave an assistant in the cab to record the witnesses of the sound signal, I myself walk along the cars on the tail, in order to take a couple of men to help in the latter - one person cannot be thrown into the car. The men were found quickly, through the tail we go down. And there is no client! Assistants look at me - “Where? You didn't mess anything up?"
All of a sudden our corpse appears. Comes out of the bushes, and with the wildest cursing goes in our direction. I come up, I say, come on, they say, man, to the train, since you managed to stay alive. He looks at me with a drowsy look, ennobled by a good liter of fiery water. "What train? I was not under any electric train! Who are you, get out of here!" And the skull itself is skewed. Not skin, not hair, just a skull. Specifically, it is folded to the side. The men do not understand anything - I told them about a possibly wounded man, but here he is standing upright. They say: “Is it really him? Or maybe there was nothing? Well, yes, of course, there was nothing, I dreamed everything.
I come into the cockpit, the assistant asks: “Well, is the corpse?” “Yeah,” I answer. - Dead body. There he is walking along the path, look in the mirror! I do not know anything about the further fate of this corpse.
Any psychologist will say that a stable stimulus ceases to act after some time. The result of the transmission of such messages is the same - no one pays attention to them.
“Let's not talk about corpses anymore. Let's talk about active safety. As you understand, those who sit in the cab do everything in their power to prevent collisions. Alas, it is technically impossible to avoid a collision when the poor guy was in the way of the train. Therefore, we need to think about how to prevent potential dead on the railway.
On the railway, suddenly, who is not in the know, little is done to achieve a result. Basically, reporting and disclaiming responsibility. Speakers were hung at the stations, of which, when the train approaches the input signal, four short beeps are heard in the even direction, and one long beep in the odd direction. These horns mean nothing to the population, the railroad workers are already turning their heads around, but one can only feel sorry for the residents of the quarters that come close to the piece of iron, especially at night.
“I had a chance to see how things are with security and on the Vyborg move, where "Allegro" and "Swallows". There is a computer in the station attendant's room, which itself, according to the schedule, issues messages to the speakers: “Attention! Move away from the edge of the platform! A high-speed train is approaching from Buslovskaya (St. Petersburg). The same thing happens on platforms located on hauls. Messages begin to be transmitted at a short interval of fifteen ( !!! ) minutes before the train passes. Any psychologist will say that a stable stimulus ceases to act after some time and is perceived as a constant. The result of the transmission of such messages is the same - no one pays attention to them.
Worse when at the station, for example, in Zelenogorsk, at the same time there are high-speed trains of different directions. Our computer works out what the developer instructed it to do: it broadcasts. Having made one announcement, the machine immediately starts another, and then it's time to repeat the first one. Poor passengers waiting for the train are ready to plug their ears.
Participate in ensuring your own safety: look in both directions, because it is impossible to save a life without the participation of its owner.
That's not all ! "Swallows" on Vyborg moving at a speed above 141 km/h, and therefore belong to high-speed trains. By Zelenogorsk and Roshchino they have stops: they drive up to the platform and drive away from it in the mode of ordinary electric trains, and the electric trains do not pose a danger anymore. Obviously, religion does not allow to cancel the broadcast about their passage through these two stations: high-speed traffic!
Do you think that's it? No matter how. There are also suburban carriers. They have their own goals and objectives. The part is reached by the same notification on stations. The trouble is that different computers are broadcasting. So it turns out that quite often ads overlap one another. It goes without saying that no one will understand anything, it’s not even worth remembering. The main thing is that all the activities have been completed, the ticks are ticked. Both the passenger and the potential defector, as usual, do not give a damn. Just like the locals."
The conclusion is simple: going to the railroad, Take part in ensuring your own safety: look both ways, for it is impossible to save a life without the participation of its owner. You look, there will be less for a couple of glasses raised by the machinists for peace.
The liberation of the Dachau concentration camp on April 29, 1945 by American troops went down in history as the "Dachau Massacre". And all because the soldiers, amazed by the mass character and cruelty of the murders of prisoners, shot more than five hundred Nazis in the camp. Today in our review there are photos of prisoners who were lucky enough to wait for their release.
"Train of death" - this is the name of the train, which on April 8, 1945 left Weimar to deliver prisoners from the Buchenwald concentration camp to Dachau. Due to delays caused by the Allied bombing, the train did not arrive at its destination until three weeks later. Many prisoners died on the way, and many of those who reached this terrible place managed to survive - they were liberated by units of the 45th Infantry Division of the 7th American Army.
1. Survivors
2. On the hill
3. Joyful release
Private John Lee was one of the first people to enter the camp. Later he said in his memoirs: “The cars, pierced by bullets, were chock-full of people. It is obvious that the train was fired upon on the way to Dachau. The picture we saw was terrible: people torn to shreds, burned to the ground, starving to death. I could not forget this picture for a long time. It seemed that the dead looked into our eyes with the question: “Why are you taking so long?”
4. Help arrived in time
5. Group photo
6. Family
7. Why are you taking so long?
8. Railway to Magdeburg
Among the surviving prisoners of Dachau were the Albanian Ali Kuchi and the Belgian Artur Jolo. Later they wrote the book "The Last Days of Dachau", in which they told about all the horrors of the "Death Train". Approximately 2,500 out of 6,000 made it to Dachau alive.
9. Facts on the face
10. US Air Force
11. They were dying of hunger
12. Salvation
13. Humanity
Inside the concentration camp, the Americans saw something that made even experienced veterans' hair stand up in horror. It seemed that they ended up in a branch of hell on Earth, where absolute evil was happening, from contact with which any normal person immediately loses his mind. Actually, this is what happened to American soldiers.
14. Helplessness
15. Huge cast
16. American Liberators
The garrison commander, SS Lieutenant Heinrich Skodzienski, who commanded the camp for just over a day, was shot near one of the wagons of the “death train”, which was filled to the very roof with the corpses of the murdered concentration camp prisoners. Then the soldiers began to shoot the guards and all the German prisoners of war - that day 560 people were killed. This incident went down in history as the "Massacre at Dachau".
17. Dachau death train
Men and women fall to their knees and kiss the ground in disbelief.
20. Thank you so much
The emotional state and mental trauma that the soldiers received when they liberated the concentration camps and found dead and tortured victims of Nazism there are little reflected in American popular culture. A recent attempt to mention this layer of history was in the film "Shutter Island" based on the novel of the same name by Dennis Lehane, whose main character, played by Leonardo DiCaprio, suffers from nightmares, including those associated with the execution of the Dachau guards.
Even through the prism of years, the story of that is striking.
Karaman V.N.
"Death Train"
(notes by American Red Cross member Rudolf Bueckeli)
The notes1 brought to the attention of the reader belong to the group of documents that, for various reasons, did not fit into either Soviet or post-Soviet historiography dedicated to the history of the Civil War. A significant part of such notes, diaries, memories appeared in the second half of the 1950s in the USSR just on the eve of the celebration of the 40th anniversary of the Great October Socialist Revolution. Many participants in the events of the Civil War sent their memoirs to museums and archives. Many were recorded from the words of the participants in the events by pioneers and schoolchildren, local historians and museum workers. It is noteworthy that such a volume of memories of the Civil War sent to museums and archives was not observed, either in the previous or subsequent years. In the museum named after V.K. Arsenyev has a selection of similar materials. By the way, there are similar collections in many regional museums and archives. However, a significant part of these memoirs was not only not published, but was not in demand as an unpublished historical source.
The notes of Red Cross employee Rudolph Bueckel are remarkable in that they give a description of the Civil War from the side of someone who was not a supporter or even just a sympathizer of one of the warring parties, such as his compatriots: John Silas Reed and Albert Rhys Williams. Rudolf Bukely was just a decent man who tried to the best of his ability, being an employee of the Red Cross, to help those who needed his help. But apparently, unlike his happier colleagues2, he was able to help a little.
The published text consists of two parts: the first is R. Bukely's own notes, and the second is a small cover letter to them.
1 Bukely's notes had previously been published, but in an extremely limited edition, by regional publishers. For example: Bukely R. Death Train / Death Train. Kuibyshev Kuibyshev book publishing house. 1960. p. 136-148; Rudolph Bukely. The Train of Death. Socialist Party of Los Angeles. (14 p. No year of publication).; For the bibliography of the issue, see: http://wap. siberia.forum24.ru/?1-12-0-00000080-000-80-0
2 See for example: Lipovetsky V. The Children's Ark, or Incredible Odyssey. St. Petersburg; ABC Classics, 2005; aka: The Ark of the Children. Vladivostok. Publishing house Frontier, 2011.
Notes (PGOM. NV 3096) were received by the Museum named after V.K. Arseniev in 1970. Unfortunately, we do not have information
about when, where and by whom an entry was made from the diaries of Rudolf Bueckeli and whose translation it is, because. it is unlikely that R. Bukeli wrote his notes in Russian, although, judging by the notes, he must have known Russian well. It is also unknown who wrote the cover letter to them. Judging by the text, it may have been one of the American employees of the Red Cross.
The text is printed without abbreviations (except for the author's abbreviations) in the author's spelling. Only obvious typos have been eliminated and the letter ё has been restored.
DEATH TRAIN Rudolf BEKELI1
Today is November 18, 1918. I am in Nikolsk-Ussuriysk in Siberia and in the last 2 days I have seen so much grief that it could fill a lifetime. I will try to tell now about everything that I saw.
I have read about the Black Hole in Calcutta many times. I was told about Russian prisoners returning from German camps, completely exhausted from a hunger strike and tuberculosis. Only a month ago I preached the doctrine of "hate". Today I humbly beg forgiveness for my thoughts of hatred and ask from the depths of my soul that I may be allowed to take at least the humblest part in trying to alleviate the plight of people, regardless of their nationality, so that at least someday the world will form one great brotherhood and that the things I have seen become impossible.
I saw corpses lying on the sides of the road, and 50 or 60 people fighting like dogs over pieces of bread thrown to them by the compassionate poor of Nikolsk.
I'm afraid to think what winter means for Siberia and its unfortunate inhabitants, whether they are Russian arrested peasants or Austrian prisoners of war. The people's parliament will meet this winter, but everyone will be too busy drafting a new "Constitution of Free Russia" - if I may say so! - to take care of such a trifle as human life. What I saw will be repeated throughout Siberia and thousands, no - tens of thousands of people literally rot to death. I use these expressions with full consciousness, because life is the cheapest thing in Siberia.
There are rumors that the allies will leave Siberia in a few months and leave Russia to fight for its own salvation. If they do this without taking prisoners of war with them and without taking any measures to prevent events like those that I saw, let no one talk nonsense to me about humanity anymore.
1 So in the document, right: Bukeley
or civilization. These will be empty words. In Siberia alone there are 250,000 prisoners. Where will they be by spring?
This diary will perhaps not be read by anyone but my dear wife, although the facts contained therein are open to anyone to read. They may sound hysterical, but every night before I go to bed I jot down my notes while I am still under the impression of what I have seen and I would like to find a person who has seen it all and retained the ability to write intelligently.
Last night, on the way home, after walking all the way through the train with Dr. Rosette, I felt unusually weak. What I saw and heard would no doubt have seemed to me a lie if someone had told me about it before. I'm sitting here tonight writing down all the details in the hope that this may relieve me so that I can once again be able to think rationally and work honestly with the American Red Cross in Siberia to help poor broken Russia.
This "train of death", as it is now known under this name throughout Eastern Siberia, left Samara about 6 weeks ago. To the west, the employees of the Russian railways are no further than Manchuria station, about 1,200 miles to the west, from here, through which the train passed at least 3 weeks ago. Since then, he has passed through Hailar, Qi-qihar, Harbin, Mulim, moving on and on like something damned, through a country where his unfortunate passengers found very little food and even less compassion.
We, from the American Red Cross, were sitting quietly in our barracks in Vladivostok when a telegram arrived, signed by Colonel “senior of the 2,500 officers of the Austro-Hungarian army. She said:
“We, 2500 officers, among them 800 invalids, prisoners of war in Siberia since 1914, were transported to Berezovka on November 1, 1918 and sent to Vladivostok. Arrived here November 12th. The Russian commander ordered us to go to the barracks in Nikolsk, but the Japanese commander canceled this order. At present we are placed in our wagons in an open field. For several years already we have been suffering and struggling with hunger, especially after the Russian revolution. We do not have the most necessary food, clothing and money, especially because some of our comrades have not received a salary from the Russian government for several months. In the name of humanity, we ask the Red Cross Society to take us under its protection or take over the protection of our interests and help us to endure this life by giving suitable work.
That night, November 16th, I packed my bare essentials, and the next morning a man known as "Shorty" and I set off for the Red Cross. While the situation was being discussed there, we took 10 people and went to the Swedish consulate, where we got 2,500 woolen shirts,
us, quilts and coats, hats, quilted pants, gloves and soap. We collected a decent stock of various things, loaded it all with great effort and sent it off. Dr. Mendjet and Dr. Scud-det, the two chief physicians of the Commission, were assigned to the train. After an endless journey, we arrived in Nikolsk. We found that the Austrian officers were a "special case". Of course, they were in a rather bad position, but this is only one of the details in this big picture of misfortune.
The "Death Train" was a different and far more horrifying phenomenon. As I said, he left Samara about 2 months ago, under the command of several Russian officers. It housed at that time 2,100 different detainees. Apparently, they were arrested civilians. Some were Bolsheviks, others were released from the Samara prison. Many of them said that they were arrested because they opposed the Bolsheviks, at a time when the Bolsheviks were in power, and when, after the fighting, the Czechs and Russians occupied Samara, they simply cleared the entire prison, loaded all those arrested on this train and sent him to the east.
Between that day and the day before yesterday, when we found this caravan in Nikolsk, 800 of these unfortunate people died of hunger, dirt and disease. In Siberia, you meet misfortunes and death at every step and, moreover, to such an extent that it is able to touch even the most cruel heart. As far as we can count, there were 1,325 men, women, and children yesterday packed into those dreadful wagons. 6 have died since last night. Little by little they will all die if the train continues to move under the same conditions.
I can't understand Russians. There are millions of pounds of provisions in Omsk that cannot be sent anywhere due to lack of rolling stock. It may be cruel to say, but it occurred to me that if all these people were painlessly killed, it would take 3 dollars worth of poison, or 10 dollars worth of cartridges, and yet for many weeks this train of 50 cars wandered , sent from one station to another, and every day more and more corpses were pulled out of it.
Many of these people were in the wagons for 5 weeks without changing their clothes. There are between 35 and 40 of them in each 25-foot-by-11 car, the doors of which were opened only to pull out a corpse or some woman who would be better off being a corpse.
There is nothing on this train that resembles sanitary conditions.
Viya, and the piles of sewage in which these people lived are beyond description. The Russian officer in command of this train gave some unconvincing explanations as to the reasons why these people are subjected to such terrible hardships and torments. He tried to present it in the most exculpatory light. Officially, they were supposed to be fed regularly at various stations, but often for several days no one even gave them bread.
If it were not for the kindness of the peasants, who with tears in their eyes, like men and women, gave them what little they could afford, they would have been completely deprived of any food.
I talked to one woman - a doctor who works for the Red Cross in the Red Guard. It would also work for anyone. A highly educated, intelligent woman in her 40s. She was on the train for many weeks.
I spoke with an 18-year-old girl, lovely, sophisticated, intelligent. She used to be a typist and accountant in the office of the Mayor in Samara. A nasty party came to power, she asked to be left in the same job, and was really left. Later, the authorities found out about her former job and she was sentenced to 6 days in prison. She fell into a big trap. She spent many weeks on the train, and if the Red Cross does not come to her aid, she will die on this train. All of the clothing she has on herself consists of a dirty blouse and skirt, some sort of underskirt, and a pair of stockings and shoes. She has no coat - in this fierce winter cold.
I spoke to a man who could not understand the difference between a Red Guard and another soldier. His wife quarreled with another woman, who apparently denounced her. That night he was arrested at his home and accused of belonging to the Red Guard. He was in the car for 5 weeks. He will die in no more than 48 hours.
I spoke to a man who, on his way home from work, stopped to find out the reason for the crowd on the street. The police arrested many of the crowd. .He was among those arrested. He will die now on the train. I spoke to people who fled the villages at the news of the approach of the Germans, peasants from the Volga, who were later found in remote villages without the necessary documents.
It is impossible, of course, to prove the correctness of all these stories, but, nevertheless, people die. I saw how they died, and how the next morning their corpses were pulled out of the cars like garbage. The living remain indifferent to this, tk. they know that their turn will come soon. Maybe they envy those who have retired.
Dr. Skadtser and Dr. Mavjat went to Vladivostok last night and they will do their best to bring this case to the appropriate authorities. I sent several telegrams and Mr. I.N. Strong from Beijing, who arrived in Vladivostok less than a day ago and was immediately sent to our aid, informed me that they were making every effort to stop
endless red tape allowing human beings to die while the chatter about freedom, justice and humanity is still going on.
If the authorities could see what I saw, they would quickly stop this bureaucracy, but our hands are tied by "diplomacy". During this time, we have fraternized with the Czech guards, who are already completely tired of this work, Thank God, we still managed to keep the train here.
I don't know what happened, but for some reason the Russian authorities behave differently today. They have begun to feed the arrested again and promise to wash the cars and give these unfortunate people a little physical exercise, we have sent 130 people to the hospital today and in one way or another we are keeping the train here. This is the main thing. He almost got sent back to Samara last night, but he still didn't go, and I don't think the Russians in charge of the train would dare to send him along with us, while we're there all the time, we open ourselves wagons, we talk with the arrested, give them hope for help and take pictures of them every day. We do all this without permission and in the face of this horror, we don't care.
It is impossible to convey in print the story of these unfortunate women who were imprisoned here in these terrible conditions. they were treated better than men. You all know why. There are 11 women in one of the carriages. Mm sat with them and talked in a mixed jargon of French, Russian and German. Inside the car there is a rope with 4 pairs of stockings belonging to these 11 women. The floor is covered with garbage and dirt. There is nothing to clean it with, there are no buckets or panicles. They haven't taken off their dresses for many weeks, In the middle of the car there is a small stove, and wood chips and coal are lying on the floor. On the walls of the car there are two rows of bunks, on which the inhabitants of this car sleep at night, and during the day they sit crouched. If the arrested are ever given food, then these women receive it in the first place and their physical condition is much better than the rest of the arrested, because. there are only 11 of them in this carriage, which would contain 35 men, as is the case in other carriages.
Another 2 days have passed. Since we arrived here, a kitchen wagon with a large cauldron has been attached to the train, and the guards say that the prisoners received some soup yesterday. One cauldron for 1325 people and soup stuck through a 1 by 11/2 foot window in an old rusty bowl.
Yesterday, a Russian officer pulled one of the women out of one of the carriages. He will return her back to the car when the train starts. In this car there is also some kind of emaciated creature that was once a man. He was a journalist. His wife is in the same carriage. She only has a few days left to live. When the men get up, they fill the whole carriage.
On two rows of boards along the walls of the car, the living and the dead sleep. Today at half past eight in the morning the guards told us that three had died during the night and their corpses had been carried away. As we walked along the train
one man beckoned us from one of the carriages and the guards told us that there were dead people in this carriage. We insisted on opening the door and this is what we saw:
Right across the threshold lay the corpse of a boy no older than 18-19 years old. Without a jacket, only in a thin shirt, in such rags that his entire chest and arms were bare; instead of pants - a piece of a bag, without socks and boots.
What agony this boy had to endure in the severe Siberian cold, until he died of hunger, cold and dirt. And yet "diplomacy" prevents us from intervening and helping them. But we're holding the train.
We climbed into the car and found 2 more dead people lying on the top bunk, among the living. Almost everyone in this car was emaciated, half-dressed, with sunken eyes. They suffered from a terrible cough. The seal of death lay on them. If help does not come soon, they will all die, we only looked into a few cars, and at one window we saw a little girl about 11 years old. According to her, her father was mobilized into the Red Guard. Now the father, mother and child are all on this train and will all die here.
Dr. Rosette is one of the best people I have ever known. When I saw how he talked to these unfortunates and tried to cheer them up, I involuntarily thought of the good shepherd, and how he also helped the crippled, the lame and the blind.
We left the car at 10 o'clock. we had to take care of the distribution of clothes to the Austrian officers. It is possible that the reason for this is our interference, or maybe something happened in Vladivostok that I don’t know about, but in any case, when we worked at the station, the arrested were released from the train. We ran out of the building and saw a disgusting procession of 45 carts, each of which was loaded with 3-4 arrested people under the protection of a Cossack. We immediately took out a cart, asked our driver to take a place in the middle of this procession, so that we would be less visible and set off with the procession.
After 4 versts we arrived at the barracks of the government hospital. There, the arrested were removed from the carts and put on the ground, where they sat trembling. Then the Russian method was applied. About 8 people were selected, they all had their hair cut, they had a "hot" bath, and then, dressed in thin slippers and what looked like a bathrobe, they went, dragged or were taken to another building about 100 yards from this place, there were rusty iron bunks with dirty straw mattresses and equally dirty pillows. Yet it seems that these unfortunates will be afforded a little more comfort here than they experienced in their former position. We made our way among the guards and entered the building. The head of the Cossacks, with whom we became friends, assured us that they would get quilted blankets. Among these people, I saw many who, as I knew, did not have long to live. The terrible thing is that they all look at you with an expression of the deepest sadness, but without bitterness. It seems that the
The gift destroyed their ability to express anger.
I have been on the train at least 10 times now and I still have never seen at least some expression on the faces of these unfortunate, exhausted, stupid creatures.
When I went to the hospital last night, where 14 people were lying on the dirtiest straw imaginable, three of them turned their bleary eyes on me, recognized the uniform of the Red Cross, and fell on their miserable, aching knees. One of them, a sixty-year-old man, had a silver crucifix around his neck. They silently sobbed with body-shaking sobs and spoke in Russian: “God and Jesus Christ bless you and reward you for what you have done for us.” We felt quite rewarded for all our work these days, during which I never took a bath, shaved or undressed, because. after finishing my notes, I collapsed on the bed and fell asleep.
Today is November 22nd. In the morning we got up at 7 o'clock and went to the hospital, where we were to meet with Dr. Seleznyov, the military head of the hospital. When we got there, everything was in a terrible state - for more than 300 patients, only 3 doctors and
3 nurses. Two patients died during the night, and the doctor determined that almost all were suffering from various diseases, including two cases of typhus.
We subsequently learned that about a week ago, two people suffering from the same terrible disease were thrown from a train.
The hospital, which is at the disposal of the doctor, consists of 1 or 4 small wooden buildings that can accommodate no more than 200 people. When we arrived, patients were lying in threes on a narrow bed, the corridors were filled with bodies lying on a cement floor, on a bed of one blanket, with a folded blanket for a pillow and covered with a blanket, in one room where 20 patients should have been placed, their there were 52. One could hardly pass between them without stepping on them. The sight and the atmosphere there are overwhelming.
Dr. Seleznev showed us his official report on the condition of the hospital, emphasizing that, as I had heard before, during the weeks that the train moved back and forth, passengers died daily from a variety of causes, including typhus, dysentery, influenza, and the common cold. starvation.
The people on the train were left for many weeks without hot food, boiled water, and many even without bread. Due to malnutrition and excessive overcrowding of wagons, contagious diseases appeared. In addition, there are various skin diseases. I did not have time to calculate the number of diseases that affected these patients, because. all the forces of the hospital are directed, at present, to wash all patients, cut their hair and shave them, provide them with clean linen, tea, food and get rooms for them, because. they come here in a constant stream. As the officers in charge of the train say, the chief
station reports that he received orders to send the train west, but I am sure that among its passengers there are still a large number of people so emaciated and sick that their further stay in these cars will be fatal for them.
We are still holding the train here with the help of a Czech officer who agreed to put the engine out of service if necessary, last night the station master showed us a telegraph order for the train to leave at 1 am, but it is still here.
In the event that an officer receives a telegraphic order to obey their orders, he will answer them that there are obstacles to the departure of the train, but that he is doing everything in his power to eliminate them. If this does not help, then he will obey the order and the train will be sent. He will walk 4 miles and then stop.
We are fighting with all means to get even the slightest chance to save unfortunate lives. Today the situation in the hospital is worse than ever - 4 have died, 3 are dying and more and more patients are coming here. Now there are about 700 of them. I had to take some old outhouse for the hospital, where 42 people are lying on a dirty floor, stretched out on straw, without pillows, in a room measuring 41 feet by 12.
The latrines are terrible beyond description, even for Russia. It's impossible to describe. Dr. Manjet arrived last night and told us that General Graves had a long meeting with the Japanese and Russian commanders, who assured him that they would help him in every way they could, but all this seemed to be of very little use.
We're still holding the train here. For 450 rubles, we agreed with a bathhouse located 3/4 of a mile from here that tomorrow all the arrested people would bathe in a bathhouse. They will leave here at 6 o'clock in the morning and go to the bathhouse, where they will wash 60 people at a time. So it will take 10 hours, maybe more. Our wagon with things has already arrived, from all those arrested going to the bathhouse in their contaminated clothes, their things will be taken and burned, and each of them will receive in return a pair of socks, a sweater and a pair of nightwear. Then they will be placed in new wagons. The authorities do not give buckets; the law requires it, but we have to fight for it.
4 a.m. November 22. It is terribly cold now, there was a strong blizzard at night. Strong went to the bathhouse at 5 o'clock to get everything ready, while Manjet and Olson sleep in a car to be on hand when the first arrests arrive. I'm left alone, my throat hurts, and I won't get up until 8 o'clock when it's time to take over from Strong.
They started off only at 7.30. because Lieutenant Novak could not earlier find the Red Cross carriages that had been moved during the night.
8:15 am. I'm in the bath right now, just relieved Strong, who's gone home for breakfast. The bath is already ready, and we are waiting for the first batch. In the distance we see a group of people advancing
working slowly, slowly and with great difficulty against the snow. Many stumble and the other detainees have to support them. This party consists of 120 unfortunate guarded by 15 soldiers with loaded rifles, as if these poor people are able to escape or resist, even if they even wanted to.
All they can do is go.
The first 60 people entered and now a fire is burning in the courtyard, on which their disgusting clothes are burned. In the bath, each of these unfortunates was given a bar of soap and now they are scrubbing themselves while the guards pull out their clothes and burn them at the stake. A cart arrived with 80 sweaters, 450 pairs of socks and 120 pairs of nightwear.
Tomorrow, when this train starts, there will be 925 red crosses on it, but I am still forced to call it the "train of death." It is useless to hide the fact that almost all of these people will soon die, because. as soon as the train starts, the old conditions will be restored and again every day the corpses will be thrown out of all the cars.
November 28. Today we are going to Vladivostok. We did everything we could. We have just learned that there are 30 more cases of typhus found in the hospital, and only heaven knows how many there are on the train. We bought buckets and brooms for the wagons, which might help a little.
Later I left Nikolsk in a wagon with 3 American soldiers. It was bitterly cold. We didn't have a stove, but we managed to keep warm by pushing each other, wrestling and fighting from time to time. Finally, we arrived in Vladivostok at 9:55. I hope that I will be allowed to go with Dr. Rosette to Siberia in search of other death trains.
We may not have done much, but we have at least saved a few hundred lives, if only for a while, and the object lesson will make a difference to the Russians.
Mr. Bakeli's prediction that the death train would remain a death train came true as he traveled along the Siberian Railway. along the road, first to the west, then to the east, then forward, then back, from city to city, news about him occasionally leaked to Vladivostok. The official message of the Red Cross Commission dated December 9 read: “We have learned that the train with the arrested people will be moved to a distance of 10 miles from Nikolsk, in view of the disturbance caused there by their presence, and will be left in this place, where we can keep an eye on him all the time. position."
On December 6, however, Colonel Emerson of the Russian railway. dor. Corps telegraphed from Harbin that the train, now consisting of 38 wagons with arrested persons, had left Titsikar and headed for Chita. Thus we received word that the so-called "death train" was on its way again and sent to Western Siberia.
Colonel Emerson said that the American consul in Harbin asked the Russian general in command of the movement on the East China Railway. road, hold up the train to Bukedu. The telegram said that if it was possible to delay this train and evacuate the arrested to the barracks occupied by the Japanese, then it would be possible to have a snack.
drink in the vicinity enough food for the sick until a train from Vladivostok comes to the rescue.
According to another message dated December 5, the officers of the Russian railway. dor. corps in Titsikar, it was proposed to go to Fevenor-di and to small towns further east, because. from the time the train left and Nikolska and the American Red Cross cared for its passengers there, the unfortunate arrestees again fell victim to illness and deprivation and it was reported that there were 120 dangerously ill in Tizicare, and after the train left Nikolska, 15 people died.
There were 15 patients in the Russian convoy. The conditions inside and outside the wagons were indescribable, and the convoy was in a slightly better position than those arrested. There were approximately 32-33 people in each car.
Colonel Emerson's telegram described in detail the state of each car, which, in terms of suffering and horror, was equal to the state of the train when it arrived at Nikolsk, when we paid attention to it. Local railway dor. employees sent a fund to Harbin to buy food, and local Americans took part in this matter ”Colonel Emerson said that these people needed immediate help, otherwise they would all die.
The officers in command of the train were ordered by telegraph not to disembark the arrested within Manchuria, but to take them to Chita, and in Harbin the officers were informed that the sick would be taken care of at the hospital in Fevenordi, which is 12 versts (about 8 miles) west of Harbin.
It was just a ploy to get the train out of Harbin, because the hospital in Fevenordi was not able to receive and accommodate patients. The officers in command of the train did not know at all what to do now, and simply moved from place to place.
The Siberian Commission immediately asked by telegraph whether it would be possible to stop the train at some place in Manchuria and evacuate people to a hospital. This was recognized by the medical bureau as the only remedy in the situation, especially since the moment when it turned out that the entire train was infected with typhus, it was a serious threat.
We hoped that some steps would be taken, but the next news was that the train had gone east, beyond Chita. Thus, 38 wagons with arrested people moved slowly from place to place, while the number of dead and dying steadily increased, this is one of the illustrations of the situation in Siberia.
Another week. The Commission's report of 16 December read: "Tragic incidents in connection with the death train, which was first heard about in Nikolsk, where it was cared for by the Red Cross, are increasing weekly.
Before rumors, last week this train was sent towards Chita, and the Red Cross made every effort to stop it in some place where the dying could
be evacuated to the hospital to bring help to unfortunate people and prevent the outbreak of an epidemic.
Now it seems that after moving to the west, the train turned again and headed to Vladivostok.
On December 10, it was reported that on December 7 the passage passed the Manchuria station, on the way to Chita, and that significant assistance was provided to the arrested at the Manchuria station. Local Americans from the army and Russian railways. dor. the servants got food for them for one day, and the Japanese general managed to provide further assistance. Here, the arrested were given medical assistance and food, and then the train went further, towards Chita.
“After 3 days, another telegram arrived, saying that the train had turned east again, and that it was apparently located near Titsikar in the middle of Manchuria on the China Railway. dor. Again an attempt was made to stop him and provide medical assistance to his passengers. The situation is such that the train simply moves from place to place, because the authorities everywhere refuse to allow the arrested to leave the train or the train to remain within their territory.”
As days and nights fly by, and weeks turn into months, the number of unfortunate arrests decreases and decreases, as death collects its cruel and unceasing tribute.
From remote Siberia came this heartbreaking tale of suffering, so terrible in its ingenuity that one can hardly believe it.
Its significance at present lies in the fact that for all its horrors, it reflects only a small part of the suffering that seems to have enveloped the whole world.
Distance, politics and censorship have hidden these terrible pictures. What was Russia - all the way from the Baltic to the Yellow Sea - is a tragedy that anticipates the picture of the Last Judgment.
Mr. Bukely, the Red Cross worker who tells this story, was until recently a banker in Honolulu. He went to Siberia to provide all possible assistance to those in need. What he faced - just a drop in the vast ocean of misfortunes - deeply sunk into his soul. He writes as a man exhausted and numb, unsettled by the very consciousness of a great disaster, as if he himself was already doomed to death hovering around him.
In a manuscript delivered across the ocean to the headquarters of the Red Cross, he described the weight of it, writing down in the evenings with mechanical accuracy what he witnessed during the day.
Decency demanded the exclusion of many inappropriate
print, but more than enough remains to convince the American people how much we have been spared from universal grief, and to rebuke the good-natured people who shy away from making clothes for refugees; who think that with victory the work of the Red Cross is over.
Are you afraid of getting hit by a train? Seemingly quick death... and got the best answer
Answer from Lisa AliSa[guru]
You know... I saw it... before my eyes... still stands before my eyes... It's... SCARY... .
Answer from Miss Justice[guru]
With one thought. . that cuts me - it becomes sickening.
I still love life
Answer from Cat Baiyun[guru]
She is not always fast, depending on what she cuts. But it cuts instantly. I'm not afraid of death, whatever it may be)
Answer from Alex Erokhin[guru]
Wow, quick death... And if your legs are cut off by wheels and you wallow? And the driver, suspecting nothing, will continue on his way. I saw such a picture on the news, but only a peasant was taken out of there, and with all this he also smoked Prima cigarettes \u003d)
Answer from Mmmmm...yeah[newbie]
No I'm not afraid. It's just too early to die.
Answer from ?”*° .?. °*”?
[guru]
prepared a presentation and read on safety precautions to OWN,
very long and insinuating, I hope that I have reached CONSCIOUSNESS
Answer from Yameya Akamatsu[guru]
as a child, we went under trains from show-offs,
well, across the sleepers, not the rails,
it was creepy, a roar from everywhere and shaking from all sides,
in general, I will not call death from a train easy
Answer from Yatiana Vorobieva[guru]
Why think about it, let alone be afraid. A person KNOWS that it is dangerous to cross the railway INATITEDLY. And this is enough if you follow the safety rules. Sitting constantly in fear, a person prepares for himself an unhappy future, because with his mental images he launches the mechanism of incarnation into reality.
Answer from Evgeniya[guru]
Well, if posthumously, then I'm not afraid ...
but still it's not the best way to commit suicide
a friend said that it’s hard to control yourself when a train is rushing at you and the driver still gives a signal like get out of the way ...
Answer from Zigzag[guru]
No, I'm not afraid... but from a plane without a parachute is cooler))
Answer from Yovetlana Pukhova[guru]
Yes, I'm afraid... depending on how to fall under it.... if "successfully", then fast.... if not... you will feel the whole range of sensations
Answer from barbarizzz[guru]
I'm afraid to discuss it.
Answer from Masks, masks, masquerade[guru]
why think? I wanted to jump off the 3rd floor, they said - go up to the 12th, so that for sure
Answer from Bird[guru]
And a friend's leg was cut off. So the train is not a guarantee of "quick death".
Answer from Olga ******[guru]
And imagine for a second how you will look, oh well ... no.
Answer from ~? i? Rim?~[guru]
Well, I'm not Anna Karenina...
but she would like to deserve a quick death, but not under a train.
I would not want to live beautiful, but die crippled.
besides, it’s too early for me to die - I didn’t deserve it yet.
Answer from Klepa[guru]
First, not the fact that fast.
Secondly, although I am a supporter of cremation, but theoretically I would like to go to cremation as a whole, and not in pieces ...
More aesthetically pleasing...
* * *
Answer from 3 answers[guru]
Hello! Here is a selection of topics with answers to your question: Are you afraid to get hit by a train? Seems like a quick death...